Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books. A senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Woods holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and his master's, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

This speech was given in September 2009 at Campaign for Liberty's Northeast Regional Conference in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Pt. 1 of this speech includes a definition of "rights,", a history of rights as a concept, the practice and recognition of rights in medieval times, and a comparison between those rights and the developing understanding of natural rights.